When It's You
by Olivia94
Summary: After giving the team tragic, unexpected news, a detective watches as the loss of one of their own tears the team apart. Major Character Death. Two-shot. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So this is my first NCIS fanfic. I've written for other fandoms before, but never here. I'm pretty excited, even though this one's kind of a bummer…**

**I got this idea watching all the other episodes when the NCIS gang has to tell other bosses that their employees have been killed. It made me think, "How would they react if they were on the other end?" I hope you like it! **

**WARNING: Major Character death**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS**

**OooOooO**

Detective Jonathan Mitchell shifted his weight anxiously and watched the elevator's glowing floor numbers change, tracking his progress as he ascended further into the government building. He hated this part of his job.

Jonathan shot a sideways glance at his partner, Detective Melissa Arnold, and noted her cool composure. She'd always been better at this sort of thing than him.

As homicide detectives for the MPDC, Detective Mitchell and his partner had been called to a murder scene late the night before. It hadn't taken long for the two to discover that the victim had been an NCIS agent and, as soon as they had, the detectives headed out to inform the agent's team and glean as much pertinent information from them as possible.

With a soft _ding_, the elevator doors opened up to reveal the NCIS squad room, which was already bustling at eight-thirty in the morning.

"Grab your gear," a gruff voice from across the room drew Jonathan's attention, "we've got a dead marine."

The voice belonged to a firm looking older man that the detective recognized as his victim's boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. This was the man that he was there to see. There were two other agents filling the desks around the man, both of whom jumped up at his words and grabbed already-packed backpacks that sat on the ground beside them. The action was carried out with an almost comical familiarity that made Jonathan think that they'd probably done it many times before.

"McGee," Agent Gibbs addressed the lean, male agent in the desk across from his as he tossed him a set of car keys.

"On it, Boss," Agent McGee replied without need for further explanation.

"Ziver…"

"He still is not answering," An exotic looking woman spoke, holding up her cell phone.

A looked of annoyance and concern flashed over Agent Gibbs's face for a split second, but he said nothing.

Jonathan realized that the team was about to leave, and moved to approach the boss.

"Excuse me, Special Agent Gibbs?" He called out, making his way over to the team's desk area. He didn't have to look back to know that Melissa was right behind him.

The agent's steely blue eyes locked onto him in an instant. "I am Detective Jonathan Mitchell from the MPDC, this is my partner, Detective Melissa Arnold." He watched as Agent Gibbs surveyed him for a moment, flicked his gaze to the empty desk diagonal from his with a worried expression, and back. The other two agents froze where they stood.

"What can I do for you?" Any worry that Jonathan saw in Gibbs's eyes was absent from his voice. Still, the detective had a feeling that Special Agent Gibbs had already deduced the nature of his visit.

Jonathan took a deep breath before he spoke. This was the hard part. "I'm sorry to inform you that an agent under your authority was found murdered last night."

The silence was deafening. All three agents seemed to be frozen in shock. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonathan saw Agent McGee turn and stare at the same desk that Gibbs had looked to earlier. His backpack dropped heavily to the floor. The woman had her back to him, but her tense body language spoke volumes.

After a long time, Gibbs spoke. "Who?" He asked simply, though he already knew. He was silently pleading Jonathan to say any other name but that of his agent.

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," Melissa spoke up from beside Jonathan. Her voice was gentle and sympathetic.

A choked sob came from the direction of the woman, who still had her back to the detectives.

Agent McGee remained frozen in shock, staring at his fallen partner's desk. "No," he whispered after a moment, shaking his head slowly. "No!" He turned on Melissa. "You're wrong." He stated firmly.

"McGee," Gibbs spoke quietly, trying half-heartedly to calm his agent.

"No, Gibbs! They're wrong!" McGee appealed to his boss, "How many times have we been told that Tony was dead or dying? It's not him, Gibbs. It's not!"

Agent Gibbs looked between McGee and the woman, whose shoulders were visibly shaking. Gibbs then looked to Jonathan, as if begging him to confirm McGee's convictions. Jonathan only shook his head regretfully.

Gibbs closed his eyes sadly, "It's not like that this time, Tim."

Those words from his boss were all it took. "Oh, God," McGee said softly. He stumbled back to his desk and collapsed into his chair. He buried his face in his hands and sat silently.

"Ziva—" Gibbs addressed the woman.

Ziva merely shook her head and walked away, gear still on her back, making sure to keep her face away from the group gathered in the middle of the bullpen.

Gibbs looked after her, but made no attempt to stop her. Then the agent, who looked considerably older than he had when they had arrived, returned to the seat behind his desk. He pointedly avoided looking at either detective, and instead stared at the former desk of one Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. His gaze was detached and pain-filled, and served as a window that displayed the horrible turmoil inside of Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

And Detective Jonathan Mitchell silently watched, hating his job, as he stood by and watched a family fall apart.

**OooOooO**

**So that's my first shot at NCIS! It's also very, very different from my usual writing style, which is sort of a comedic second person, so I hope it turned out okay!**

**At this point this is just a one-shot, but I might make another chapter showing the flip side (as in from Gibbs's POV) if people want me to. **

**Thanks for reading! Please review! I appreciate any feedback you'll give me! Thanks! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! First of all, I want to thank you all so, so much for all the awesome reviews. It means an unbelievable lot to me, so thank you from the bottom of my heart :D**

**I hope you all like this chapter. It's the last one. A few of you want to know what happened to Tony, but I don't think I have it in me to write a multi-chapter deathfic. Plus, I think it's better like this. **

**Thanks again! :D**

**Warning****: Slight references to Requiem and Swan Song. Seriously, though, if you haven't seen the episodes you won't even know they're there. **

**OooOooO**

Gibbs's gut was churning.

That in itself was a very bad sign. The day Kate died, the day DiNozzo was infected with pneumonic plague, the day McGee was held hostage in a women's' prison, the day Abby was kidnapped—the list goes on and on—all of those days the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs awoke to a painful uneasiness in his stomach. Some called it instinct, some called it black magic, but whatever it really was, the feeling was almost prophetic.

So when Agent Gibbs arrived at work that morning to find his Senior Field Agent's desk empty, he was worried to say the least.

"McGee," Gibbs barked at the young man fiddling around on his computer, "Where's DiNozzo?"

The younger agent immediately snapped to attention, jumping up from his seat and sharing a look with Ziva, who was seated at her own desk, before he replied, "I don't know, Boss. He hasn't come in yet." Gibbs shot McGee a meaningful look. "Calling him right now, Boss." McGee said, interpreting the look perfectly.

McGee pulled out his cell phone and began dialing quickly, shooting uneasy looks at his boss. The agent knew already that it would be an unpleasant day.

"No answer," Tim informed his boss after he was greeted by Tony's voicemail.

"Dammit, DiNozzo. Rule number three," Gibbs mumbled lowly under his breath.

"Would you like me to perhaps go to his apartment? Maybe he slept through his alarm," Ziva suggested mildly from her desk, obviously making up excuses for her partner.

"Yeah, Boss. Tony _is _a deep sleeper," McGee pitched in, seeing where Ziva was going.

Gibbs looked between his two agents with a raised eyebrow.

"…or…We could stay right here and call every five minutes?" McGee redeemed himself, drawing a sharp, resentful look from Ziva.

Gibbs found himself smiling slightly in spite of his twisting gut. It was no wonder he never spoke; his agents could read his mind.

As the morning dragged on without any sign of his Senior Field Agent, Gibbs found the churning in his gut to escalate to the point that it was almost painful. He was just about to recant his decision not to pay a visit to Tony's apartment when his phone rang.

"Gibbs," He answered shortly, and then silently listened to the description of his team's latest case before hanging up.

"Grab your gear," He called out, standing up from his desk, "We've got a dead marine."

Ziva and McGee jumped up instantly, grabbing their backpacks and strapping on their sigs.

"McGee." Gibbs tossed the car keys to the younger agent.

"On it, Boss."

"Ziver…"

"He still is not answering."

Gibbs wasn't surprised—he knew that he would have been informed immediately if contact had been made with Tony—but his uneasiness increased even more.

"Excuse me, Special Agent Gibbs?" An unfamiliar voice came from the direction of the elevators.

Gibbs locked onto the figure walking towards him and his team quickly. In an instant he observed the tall young man and his even younger female partner and identified them as Metro detectives.

"I am Detective Jonathan Mitchell from the MPDC, this is my partner, Detective Melissa Arnold," The man introduced himself, coming to a halt at the entrance of their semi-enclosed workspace and flashing his badge.

The confirmation of the two detectives' identities sent Gibbs's heart to his toes. The agent shot a quick look at Tony's desk, but quickly reverted his gaze to Detective Mitchell. He wasn't ready to consider the possibility that his missing agent was the reason for the visit, even though everything inside of Gibbs told him that it was.

"What can I do for you?" He asked pleasantly. The way that McGee and Ziva had considerably slowed down their preparations so that they could eavesdrop didn't escape his notice.

The Detective looked genuinely remorseful as he said, "I'm sorry to inform you that an agent under your authority was found murdered last night."

Ziva froze completely, her body tense with anticipation for what she knew would be her boss's next question. McGee felt his body go weak with shock and let his backpack drop to the floor as he turned to look at his partner's empty desk.

All the air was forced out of Gibbs's lungs, and he struggled to regain his breath for a long moment. "Who?" He finally managed to ask the one question that he desperately did not want to know the answer to. He turned his eyes to Detective Mitchell and silently begged him not to answer.

The response came from a sympathetic Detective Arnold, "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."

Once again, Gibbs felt the air punched out of his lungs. This time, though, he knew he would never be able to breathe again. He found himself cruelly reminded of another time when he was drowning, sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss, feeling every last ounce of oxygen leaving his body. But someone had been there to save him that time.

"No," Gibbs heard McGee whisper brokenly. "No!" This time it was a shout. Gibbs snapped out of his trance to see McGee yelling at the detectives. "You're wrong."

"McGee," Gibbs tried to soothe his agent, but to no avail.

"No, Gibbs! They're wrong!" McGee turned to him, "How many times have we been told that Tony was dead or dying? It's not him, Gibbs. It's not!"

Gibbs felt something break inside of him as he watched his youngest agent break down. He then looked to Ziva, who was facing away from him, but he could see her shoulders shaking. The impenetrable Ziva David was breaking, too. Finally, Gibbs looked to Detective Jonathan Mitchell, the man who had come in and turned his entire life upside down with just a handful of words, and begged him to say that McGee was right. The tiny slimmer of hope shining inside of him was crushed by just a slight headshake from the man.

Gibbs closed his eyes in defeat, "It's not like that this time, Tim."

The quiet words from the man that Timothy McGee looked up to as a boss and father figure were enough to rip him apart.

"Oh, God." McGee made his way to his desk and collapsed in his chair, burying his face in his hands.

"Ziva—" Gibbs tried to comfort the woman, but she merely shook her head and took off, gear still on her back, nearly sprinting. Gibbs didn't know where to, and doubted that she did, either.

And so Gibbs found himself alone, standing in the middle of the bullpen, as the remaining members of his family broke down. He stumbled numbly to his chair, plopped down, and found himself staring at the empty desk of his fallen agent.

As Gibbs sat, he vaguely realized that he didn't feel angry. He didn't feel sad or vengeful or guilty—no, those feeling would come later. As Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat, he didn't feel _anything. _He was swallowed whole by an all-consuming emptiness—a sensation that was far too familiar to the man. The loss of his friend and surrogate son shook him to the core, and he didn't know how he would survive this time.

"_You survive for them. For McGeek and Zee-vah and Ducky and Abby. You survive because you have to." _Gibbs could almost see his Senior Field Agent sitting, legs propped up on his desk with that signature, cocky grin.

He was another Ghost now. There to fill the gaping spaces left in his wake.

Gibbs felt a stabbing pain in his heart as reality hit him once again. With a look after Ziva, to McGee, who was still sitting frozen, face in hands, and a look to the desk that would forever remain empty, Gibbs knew that nothing would be the same.

His entire world had once again been rocked, and though he may some day move on, he'll never forget.

**OooOooO**

**I hope you liked it! **

**Thanks again for everything, guys! Please review! :D**


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